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Abstract

The literature on equity in health care delivery agrees that adjusting for “medical need” is a necessary component in assessing whether the delivery of care is equitable, that is, whether it varies with ability to pay. To date, most studies measuring income-related inequality in the delivery of health care have employed crude measures of health status to adjust for medical need and have acknowledged this as a limitation. This study examines how using more complete health status measures affects estimates of income-related inequality for U.S. adults. The findings suggest that previous studies may understate the extent of pro-rich inequality.

Keywords  MEPS - inequality - health status adjustment

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